"Bunions….A Local Study Changes The Standard Of Care."

Main Category: Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy
Also Included In: Pain / Anesthetics
Article Date: 18 May 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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A recent local study shows a new approach to treating bunions could save up to 400 million dollars a year.

The study by the Weil Foot and Ankle Institute shows operating on both bunions simultaneously instead of separately decreases the cost of the common operation by 25%.[1]

"We pioneered minimally invasive, ambulatory bunion surgery," says Dr. Lowell Scott Weil Sr., a podiatric physician and the Institute's founder. "Now we've shown patients can benefit from having that surgery done simultaneously on both feet. The combined operation is less expensive and cuts patients' time off work by three to six weeks."

Bunions, painful deformities on the sides of the big toes, affect 4.4 million Americans. Every year about 250,000 patients with swelling and pain seek surgery. Ninety percent are women who want to wear a "reasonable looking shoe" without pain.

Amber Lankford had the bilateral bunion procedure performed by Dr. Lowell Weil, Jr. last November. The 30-year-old Physical Therapist from Charlotte, North Carolina delayed treating her bunions for years. "I saw tons of bunion patients with just horrible pain after their surgeries," she says. "They'd be out of work for up to three months. And that was from operating on just one bunion."

But then Amber found out about the Weil Foot & Ankle Institute's new operation on the Internet. She says, "That's what I wanted. Less time off work, less expense, and get both feet done in one fell swoop."

Podiatrists have traditionally operated on each bunion separately because of fears that a combined operation is too debilitating and increases the risk of complications. The problem is, depending on the technique used, each operation could require patients to stay off their foot for up to two months.

"Many patients told us that was just unacceptable," says Dr. Weil. "They had to delay surgery and suffer. Otherwise they'd lose their jobs."

But after Amber's bilateral operation, she was back to work in just ten days. "After what I'd seen, I couldn't believe it!" she says. "And I never took a single pain pill!"

The recent study shows that experience isn't unusual. Researchers performed bilateral procedures on 66 volunteers and compared them to 120 patients given traditional separate operations. The bilateral surgery group actually returned to work slightly faster than those receiving traditional treatment. Both had about the same levels of pain and complications.

Most important, the patients given a single bilateral operation missed 23 days less work. In addition, their combined operation cost $1,625 less than the cost of two separate operations. ($6,200 for two separate operations compared with $4,525 for the combined procedure.)

"Perhaps most telling," says Dr. Weil, "is that 97% of the patients who had bilateral surgery told us that given the choice they'd do it again."

"We estimate treating both bunions at once could save almost half a billion dollars a year in health costs. And that doesn't include the increased productivity of workers on the job for three additional weeks. Finally, patients won't have to choose between ending their pain and keeping their jobs."

Amber Lankford says, "I wouldn't trade this for the world. Coming to Chicago for this operation is the best decision I ever made."

"For most bunion patients nationwide," says Dr. Weil, "this should now become the routine standard of care."

[1] European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology EFORT Meeting, 5/2008

Note: The Weil Foot & Ankle Institute's 17 podiatric physicians practice at 12 locations throughout Chicago

Source
Weil Foot and Ankle Institute